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Characters

﻿Characters- be they villains, vagrants, kings, or commoners – are the essence of Shakespeare’s plays.

The essence of anything lies in the set of attributes that render it the characteristics of its substance, purpose and function. In Shakespeare’s play, “Macbeth”, the essence of the play are the characters. Shakespeare uses a variety of different characters and all of them carry a different idea about our society. This includes kings, who carry the idea of chivalry, majesty and kindness; villains who carry the idea of manipulation and deception; and vagrants who carry the idea of witchcraft. Along with this some of the characters also go through drastic changes in personality and actions. This shows that characters are the essence because they give flavour to the play and without them no events would take place. Hence characters prove to be pivotal for Shakespeare to explore the consequences of various events on society.

Jonathan Bates, in his book “ the genius of Shakespeare” states that one of the reasons Shakespeare is a genius is that “ we can never quite make up our minds about the characters “. This is especially true for the character of Macbeth as his character progressively deteriorates as the plot builds up, where his good qualities slowly convert into bad and evil ones. We first hear about Macbeth in the wounded captain’s account with the words “all’s too weak for brave Macbeth’. This gives an initial impression of a brave, valiant and capable warrior. This however, becomes complicated once we see Macbeth interact with the three witches and we realise that his physical courage is coupled with his consuming ambition and self-doubt. The witches prophesy that Macbeth will become King brings him face inner turmoil through the “horrid image” of the murder of king Duncan and at this point he is not so cold and ambitious that he will defy loyalty. Subsequently he writes a loving letter to his wife where he calls her his “dearest partner of...

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...Character Analysis
In the tragedy Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, many character traits are portrayed through the various characters throughout the play. Macbeth was one of Shakespeare&#8217;s greatest tragedies. It was completed in 1606 and was most likely first performed before King James I and his royal family at Hampton Court. King James I is believed to be a direct descendent of the character Banquo. Probably the most potent character trait expressed in Macbeth would be integrity or the lack there of. Integrity could be defined as doing the right thing at all costs no matter what the consequences or what would be in the persons best interest. In this play the person that displays the most of this character trait would be Macbeth himself. Macbeth shows his lack of integrity in many ways throughout the entire play through his actions towards the other characters, this trait helps to personify what kind of person Macbeth was and what kind of person he was becoming.
In the beginning of the play Macbeth is portrayed as an upstanding citizen to Scotland and a man with unending courage. He could do no wrong in the eyes of the king and because of this was presented with many honors. As with any person when they are recognized for what they have done Macbeth became somewhat greedy in his newly found fame and this greed also spread to his wife, Lady...

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Explore how writers present disturbed characters in Macbeth and The Laboratory.
Macbeth is arguably one of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies. Written sometime between 1603 and 1606, the play is strongly written with King James the first’s of England’s interests in mind; the supernatural. Because of this we are introduced to the idea of the paranormal and witchcraft straight way in the play with the three. This would have scared a Jacobean audience as they feared the supernatural; it also foreshadows the likeliness of disturbed characters to be introduced later in the play.
In comparison, The Laboratory, a poem written by Robert Browning in the 1800’s and set in aristocratic France- before the revolution, when the old regime of the monarchy was still in place. This was a time of great diversity between the social classes, so seeing the narrator of the dramatic monologue, an affluent woman, liaising with a poor alchemist would have deeply shocked a 19th century audience, as they would believe her to be troubled, or maybe even disturbed.
Macbeth is Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy; this means that the play has no sub-plots and only concentrates on the story, and the disturbed mind, of the main character, Macbeth. The full focus on Macbeth himself emphasises his evil nature and thirst for power, portraying him as the ultimate tyrannical and disturbed character. “I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but...

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When Six Characters in Search of an Author begins, the stage is being prepared for the daytime rehearsal of a play and several actors and actresses are milling about as the Producer enters and gets the rehearsal started. Suddenly the guard at the stage door enters and informs the Producer that six people have entered the theatre asking to see the person in charge. These six “characters” are a Father, a Mother, a 22-year-old Son, a Stepdaughter, an adolescent Boy, and young female Child. These “characters” claim that they are the incomplete creations of an author who couldn’t finish the work for which they were conceived. They have come looking for someone who will take up their story and embody it in some way, helping them to complete their sense of themselves. The Producer and his fellow company members are initially incredulous, convinced that these “people” have escaped from a mental institution. But the Father, speaking for the other characters, argues that they are just as “real” as the people getting ready to rehearse their play. Fictional characters, he maintains, are more “alive” because they cannot die as long as the works they live in are experienced by others. The Father explains that he and the other “characters” want to achieve their full life by completing the story that now only exists in fragments in the author’s brain. The Stepdaughter and Father begin to tell their...

...Round character
Definition:
A round character is a major character in a work of fiction who encounters conflict and is changed by it. Round characters tend to be more fully developed and described than flat, or static, characters. If you think of the characters you most love in fiction, they probably seem as real to you as people you know in real life. This is a good sign that they are round characters.
A writer employs a number of tools or elements to develop a character, making him or her round, including description and dialogue. A character's responses to conflict and his or her internal dialogue are also revelatory.
How do you go about creating a round character rather than a flat one? Creating truly believable characters takes time and thought, of course; you can start by answering these questions about your main character.
Also Known As: major character, main character, dynamic characters
Examples:
Heathcliff, Anna Karenina, and Raskolnikov are all round characters from classic literature. We very quickly gain a sense of their emotions, motivations, and histories, though they are all very complex people.
flat character
Definition: A flat character is a minor character in a work of fiction who does not...

...an alternative to desire for power.” Discuss this statement with reference to the thematic concerns of the novel. Support your ideas with details from the novel.
Bessie Head, by setting her novel When Rain Clouds Gather in a small refugee village in Botswana, challenges her readers to question their assumptions of power. The village of Golema Mmidi, barren and breathing poverty is described as a “utopia”. This twist in the portrayal of power, follows throughout the novel where we come to question all authority. In this, we undertake a thematic journey to discover an ` ‘alternative’ to the desire for power. This alternative is illustrated through addressing the themes of self determination, feminism and tribalism. Through the characters we come to understand that most power is irrelevant in the personal journey of self discovery.
Sample Essays
Question. “I have not known a day’s peace and contentment in my life.” Discuss this statement in light of the various internal conflicts faced by Makhaya in the novel. Support your ideas with details from the novel.
ESSAY 1
In the novel When Rain Clouds Gather, by Bessie Head, the protagonist, Makhaya, is riddled with many afflictions. Throughout the book, he attempts to reconcile his conflicts and forge a new future for himself. He never achieves total closure, but he does realise some sense of peace though belonging to a community and improving the standard of life in Botswana.
At the start of the...

...The Balance of Iago and Desdemona’s Characters in Othello
In William Shakespeare’s tragic play Othello the balance of good versus evil is seen in Desdemona and Iago. “Every character is […] balanced by another similar or contrasting character”(Kernan 877). We see this balance in Desdemona’s “innocence” and Iago’s corrupting hatred (877). The effects both Iago and Desdemona have on the main character Othello throughout the play only help to show this balance. Othello becomes the tragic work of art due to the balancing of Iago’s hatred and Desdemona’s loyalty throughout the play.
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...Sample Essay One In the story “Yellow Fish,” the main character is never directly described or mentioned. The reader must inference everything except their name, Anu. The author creates the character through reflections and other various techniques. Throughout the story, the writer uses very choppy sentences, as well as fragments, to represent Anu’s stream of consciousness. By doing this, the writer gives her a timid, scarred personality. By limiting the sentence structure, Ambai indirectly leads the reader to believe that Anu is depressed, and has faced tragedy in her life. The author does this to foreshadow the reflection on Anu’s loss of her child. The reflection itself also serves purpose to the author. Anu says, “The mouth of the urn. Open it” (54). This statement is indicative of some level of shock Anu is experiencing. By giving Anu these lines, Ambai reveals to the reader that Anu is absolutely traumatized by this occurrence, and felt as if the ashes in the urn were somehow still connected to the lost child. The author reveals this instance to portray to the reader whyAnu is the way that she has portrayed her to this point in the story. Finally, Ambai uses the yellow fish to show Anu’s sense of closure. By giving the fish similar characteristics to Anu’s lost daughter, the author creates an idea of salvation. By saving the fish, and sending it out into the sea, Ambai conveys to the audience that Anu feels her daughter is in a better...

...Character is Fate – Essay
“A man’s character is his fate” once said the Greek philosopher Heraclites. By this he meant that our personalities and actions shape the outcomes of our lives and therefore our destiny. This statement opposes the traditional view that man’s fate is determined by an external force (name it god or even chance). This argument is basically one of faith: do you believe we shape our own futures by how we act, or are our lives programmed in a certain unchangeable way? In other words, do you believe in an omnipotent being that has our lives or at least our futures predetermined? As we shall see, a man’s character defines his life (as his behaviour, emotions and actions determine his daily life), but I believe that our fate is predetermined and unchangeable and that there is divine intervention, therefore a matter that we have no control over. To support the fact that we might be able to define our daily life but not our fates or futures there is the unanswered question of ‘why do bad things happen to good people?’ Furthermore, character is not the only aspect in deciding a man’s fate: external events (chance and Nature) will also alter the processes and outcomes of our lives. Heraclites and Novalis (German philosopher)[1] had an interesting argument, but unfortunately one that only applies in a utopian world.
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